


Stomach Flu 101

by BotchedExperiment



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Vomiting, self-indulgent trash, sick sportacus, this is disgusting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 12:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10513986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BotchedExperiment/pseuds/BotchedExperiment
Summary: Sportacus catches a stomach bug for the first time and things go about as well as you would think.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This has been on tumblr for a while but I just got around to posting it here!  
> As goes for a lot of my fics: this is gross, y'all.

Robbie wasn’t sure where his friendship with the town hero stood in recent months. It was somewhere around making schemes less dangerous and not being _immediately l_ ectured after they went wrong. It certainly wasn’t anywhere near "getting woken up in the middle of the night by a phone that never rang".

"Whoever this is, I'm _trying_ to sl-"

"Robbie?" The hero's voice was strained, like he was crying or in pain. It was enough to pull Robbie out of his grumpiness. Sure enough, he heard a breathless sob on the other end of the line.

"What?" He didn’t mean to snap, it was just his default reaction to anything, really. Still, Robbie could practically hear the man recoil at the response. "What is it, Sportakook?" He tried, softer this time.

"I- u-um… something- something is wrong."

This was concerning, Robbie had to admit. He didn’t know what the guy was on about, but it wasn’t good.

"What's wrong? What are you talking about?"

There was a pause as if a Sportacus is trying to think of how to answer. Finally, he croaked out, "My stomach hurts."

Oh. _Ohhhh._

There had been a savage virus going around town the past couple of weeks. Robbie had managed to narrowly avoid it by staying holed up in his comfortable lair and out of the town's public areas where children could spread their disgusting little germs.

Sportacus must not have been so lucky.

"Well, you've probably got that thing the kids had," Robbie said bluntly.

"Wha- really? Do you think that's possible?"

Not having spent a lot of time around humans, let alone _children_ before he came to Lazytown, Sportacus had probably never experienced human illnesses. For all Robbie knew, they didn’t have simple stomach bugs where he was from.

'Robbie, please. I've never… I need help."

Before Robbie had a chance to respond, he was cut off by heartbreaking whimper, along with the shuffling of blankets in the background like Sportacus was squirming in bed, struggling to cope with the pain or discomfort.

Robbie had been very determined to avoid this bug at all costs. He couldn’t get sick if he didn’t give his body a chance to be exposed! It looked like he'd have to forget about that.

He sighed.

"Where's your ship?"

"I- I landed it by the park. Thank you so much, Robbie. I'll make it up to you."

Yeah, Robbie had a feeling he was going to regret this.

\-----

Robbie grumbled to himself as he walked to the park with a bag of supplies in-hand. It was cold outside, especially in the middle of the night, and who knew what kind of creatures lurked in the darkness! Why was he doing this again? Oh, because Sportacus was incapable of handling a little illness by himself and apparently all those apples weren't doing their job.

Why did Robbie have to be such a softie?

Finally, the ship was in sight and - from the crushed flowers underneath it - had been very hastily landed. He shook his head at this dumb elf who couldn’t even park his own airship properly and walked up to it. Much to his surprise, the door opened right up for him. He was cautious walking in because Robbie had experienced enough misadventures in that airship to know to be careful where he stepped in that God-forsaken thing.

A quick look around the dark interior was proving useless until he finally caught sight of a shifting lump in the bed. Only blonde curls peeked from out of the covers until Robbie peeled back the blanket to find the hero curled up underneath, shivering and eyes squeezed shut. 

Sportacus was in loose pajamas and Robbie was thankful that he at least had enough sense to get out of his restraining hero clothes. He wasn’t in the mood to try and dress an elf tonight.

He didn't seem to be aware of Robbie's arrival until Robbie pressed his hand to the side of his neck, as the rest of his skin was harder to get to. He nearly hissed at the heat that met his own skin.

Hazy blue eyes looked up at him, slowly blinking. "You actually came."

"Did you really think I would lie about coming over? Anyway, how could I resist when you guilt me into it like that? Now, sit up so I can see what the damage is."

Sportacus hesitated.

"Come on, work with me here!"

"It hurts," He whimpered miserably.

Robbie sighed and carefully sat down on the bed. There was just enough light in the ship for Robbie to see how pale Sportacus was, along with the sweat shining above his brow. He placed a gentle hand on Sport's arm, rubbing up and down in a calming motion as Sportacus began to relax under his touch.

"Have you thrown up?"

Sportacus stared at him, horrified that vomiting was even a possibility. He thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"Are you _going_ to throw up?" Robbie asked. He really wasn’t in the mood to clean up any elf puke tonight.

"I- I'm not sure," Sportacus answered honestly. "I haven't felt like this since I was a kid."

"Like what? Nauseous?"

"I think so?"

What a lucky guy he must have been, never having gotten motion sick from his dumb airship or eaten too much at once. Robbie had a feeling that his body was paying for it now, though, and it wasn’t going to be pleasant for either of them.

"Alright alright," Robbie nodded in understanding. This was obviously stressing Sportacus out to no end, so maybe it was best to stop demanding information Sportacus didn’t have. "How about I get a bucket or something, and you sit tight and try to keep yourself together, sound good?"

Sportacus made a sad noise of agreement and curled back up into his tight ball of misery.

Where exactly did this guy keep his bathroom, Robbie wondered. He scanned the ship for a while before a door he didn’t know existed opened up, revealing a bathroom as white and sanitary as every other darn thing on that ship.

He grabbed a small bin and returned to Sportacus, who was looking even worse than before. He was sitting up against the back wall now, arms wrapped tightly around his abdomen, sweat dripping down his neck and his breathing uneven. Robbie knew that look and things were about to get a lot less fun for this guy.

Sportacus turned to him as Robbie placed the bin on the floor next to him. "Robbie, I don’t feel so well…"

"We've established that."

Sportacus swallowed uneasily with an utter confused expression on his face. "No, Robbie… I feel… I feel-" and that was all he could say before he was throwing up on himself, and then managing to lean over the side of the bed.

Robbie swore at the several sickening splashes and went for the bin, but it was far too late. Sportacus was already fully occupied by the overwhelming nausea and it was probably best to let him get it out by this point. So much for not cleaning up elf puke tonight.

Sportacus as he panted, tears streaming down his cheeks from the strain on his body. He looked downright _terrified._

Robbie growled under his breath as he observed the mess in front of him. The mess being both Sportacus _and_ the puddle of vomit. "You uh, could have started off with something like 'Robbie I'm about to barf'."

To Robbie's horror, Sportacus - who was miserable already - started to cry and panic and oh God Robbie needed to be more careful. "I'm sorry... I didn't even realize- I'm so sorry..."

Robbie tamped down any annoyance and took into account that Sportacus didn’t know what his body was doing. He needed to tread lightly because Sportacus was obviously not taking this well and Robbie was just making it worse by being… well, _himself_.

Sportacus didn't look at him. He was still breathing awfully heavy and it wasn't doing him any favors. Robbie needed to calm him down before he made himself sick.

"Hey, these things happen when you're sick and it's no big deal," Robbie said softly. "Just remember that next time you feel like that, you're probably gonna throw up."

Most people grew up learning to recognize their body's signs when they were ill, but Sportacus had never had anything like this before so how was he to know what the signs were?

Sportacus nodded, eyes glued to a spot on the floor not covered in puke. He was shaking, whether from fever, from throwing up, or from anxiety, Robbie wasn't sure.

He sat on the bed and took the hero's hand into his own. It seemed to help bring him back from whatever anxieties had gotten him stuck in his head.

"I'm scared." Sportacus admitted hoarsely. "This has never happened before. I don't know how to-" he swallowed. "I can usually tell when my body..." His breathing started to pick up again so Robbie decided to stop him before he worked himself up.

"Everyone gets the stomach flu, you just got it a little later in life." He squeezed Sportacus' hand, stroking it with his thumb.

They sat quietly for a while as Sportacus began to calm down. Robbie could hear the angry gurgle of the other man's stomach and was reminded to set the bin in his lap before the nausea fully returned.

Sure enough, the hero's breathing changed and he started shifting uncomfortably, his hand massaging his stomach. He didn’t offer any warning, but Robbie didn’t need one to know to lift the bin to his chin and catch whatever came out.

Sportacus gagged and panicked when stuff got caught in his throat on the way up. He'd look to Robbie for help and just about broke Robbie's heart every time because he really couldn’t do anything but offer comfort and hope that this didn’t last long.

"Don’t- don’t do that," Robbie said awkwardly when he noticed Sportacus nearing a panic attack. It wasn’t the most comforting thing he could have said, but really he wasn’t good at this stuff.

Sportacus looked at him with watery eyes, breathing through his mouth with great effort.

"Just… just breathe, okay? Just let it out and it'll be over." For a while.

He heaved over the bin, choking up bits of fruit that Robbie was sure Sportacus was wishing had been chewed more thoroughly.

"Breathe," Robbie reminded him. "Take it easy and let your body do what it needs to." He never thought that he'd be the one telling _Sportacus_ to listen to his body. It was just a couple of days ago that Sportacus was lecturing him on the amount of caffeinated soda he was drinking.

Sportacus was having trouble paying attention to him, but he seemed to be taking his advice and relaxing until he reached the point of hanging over the bin and waiting. His stomach had settled a bit, but he didn’t seem comfortable letting go of the thing. He spat into it, wiping his nose and mouth with his sleeve. Robbie thought about stopping him, but that shirt was going to need a serious washing soon anyway.

"Feel any better?" Robbie tried.

Sportacus shook his head. "Feel worse." His voice was hoarse and it trembled just as badly as the rest of him. He looked up at Robbie with eyes watery from both crying and vomiting. "Are you sure this is normal?"

"Unfortunately," Robbie answered with a sigh. "It'll pass in a day or two, don't worry."

Sportacus gave a weak chuckle. "I'm not sure I can last that long."

"Trust me, I know how you feel."

He helped Sportacus get his shirt off (so much for not dressing an elf tonight) and followed his directions on opening the closet. Why did everything in that ship require so much effort? Eventually, he pushed the button Sportacus was pointing to and found the thing _full_ of clothes.

Robbie blinked. He'd never pictured Sportacus wearing any of this stuff. (Was that a tuxedo? Robbie needed to throw a formal event right away) Granted, there weren't a lot of clothes, not near as much as Robbie owned, but what _was_ there was surprising enough.

He snapped himself out of it and grabbed another blue shirt that was identical to the one Sportacus had just taken off. The poor guy was shivering when he made his way back to the bed.

"So you've had this a lot?" Sportacus asked him as he pulled the shirt over his head.

Robbie nodded absently. He was busy thinking of how to clean up the floor. "I had it last winter. It kept me in my lair for days just hoping death would come."

"Last winter? When you refused to come out of your lair?" Robbie nodded. "You were _sick_?"

"Yeah." Maybe he would need a mop? Or a towel or something? Ugh, this wasn’t going to be a fun job.

Suddenly, the ship seemed to know exactly what he needed and helpful blinking lights guided him to a closet of cleaning supplies. He shouldn’t have been surprised that it existed considering how clean the place was.

He turned back to his hero friend with an armful of supplies, only to find himself being stared at. Sportacus looked horrified.

Robbie should have kept his mouth shut.

"That was _Christmas_ , Robbie!"

"Yeah, well, Christmas has never been my lucky day anyway." He walked around the bed and started to clean.

"No one should be alone when they feel like this…" Sportacus mumbled miserably, guilt filling his voice.

"It's more bearable when you know what to expect." No, it wasn't. Robbie hated being sick and alone and no one wondering what was wrong because he was probably just sulking somewhere or trying to take a nap.

"Robbie," Sportacus reached over and grasped weakly at his wrist, prompting Robbie to look at him. "I want to make sure you're not alone the next time you're sick, okay?"

It was guilt, plain and simple. Sportacus didn’t really want to deal with Robbie when he was sick, even if he didn’t know it yet. Robbie knew what a grumpy problem he could be and it was even worse when he wasn’t well. He was a big mess, really.

Robbie shrugged. "Won't be long now."

Sportacus cocked his head, brows furrowing in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"This thing you've got is pretty contagious." Robbie really didn’t mean anything by it. He was just stating a fact! And yet, his attention was pulled away from the cleaning once again when he heard the sick man gasp.

"I didn't even think about that! Robbie, I'm so sorry. I shouldn’t have called you over. I-"

Robbie growled under his breath. "Now, hold on a minute, Sportadumb! If I didn’t want to deal with this, I wouldn’t be here, okay?"

Sportacus stared at him guiltily.

"Okay?!"

A careful nod.

"Good. And you said it yourself - no one should be alone when they're like this." He gestured toward Sportacus.

Sportacus fidgeted uncomfortably while Robbie cleaned up his mess and then the bin. He offered to help, but Robbie was in no way going to let him do that. Moving would probably just aggravate his stomach anyway and the last thing he needed was more to clean.

"It's really cold in here." Sportacus wrapped his arms around himself, back against the wall and knees pulled to his chest. "Is that supposed to happen?"

Robbie put away the cleaning things and went to the bedside. He pressed a hand to the hero's forehead and frowned, humming in disapproval.

"That'd be the fever."

"Oh," Sportacus shivered. "I haven't had one of those in a while." He proceeded to ask the ship for his vitals and Robbie nearly had a heart attack before the AI was kind enough to explain what Sport's usual body temperature was.

Soon, Robbie instructed him to lie down and get some rest.

"I still feel queasy," Sportacus argued. "I'm afraid I'm going to throw up again."

"You're going to feel like that for a while, but you'll need to learn to sleep through it."

"But what if-"

"I'll be right here." Robbie pulled the blanket up to the sick man's chin.

"But I can't tell when I'm going to-"

"I can." Hopefully. "You need to get some rest to fight this thing." He was only repeating what he had heard Sportacus tell the kids when they were sick, really. The hero sure needed a lot of convincing to follow his own advice.

"But Robbie-"

Oh, for the love of- " _Sleep._ You need it."

Sportacus finally let himself relax. Robbie found himself sitting in the bed, running his fingers through the mop of curls as Sportacus rested his head on his thigh. It wasn’t long before the hero was fast asleep.

Robbie himself wasn’t too worried about sleeping. His sleep schedule was a lot less fragile and he knew that he could just nap the day away tomorrow if he needed to. Right now, he was content just sitting with Sportacus and making sure he was comfortable, safe, and not alone.

Robbie hadn't even realized that he had nodded off until he woke to Sportacus whining in his sleep. The elf curled up away from Robbie and squirmed at the discomfort in his stomach. Just as he had promised, Robbie knew what was coming and had the bin prepared when the hero's eyes shot open. He pulled Sportacus into a sitting position just in time to avoid another mess he'd have to clean up.

Sportacus whimpered in distress and gave an unproductive heave while Robbie rubbed gentle circles on his back.

"Take it easy," Robbie reminded him once again, brushing the hair out of Sport's eyes and pulling a piece behind his ears.

Sportacus swallowed hard and immediately heaved again, bringing up a mouthful of stomach contents with a sickening burp and Robbie couldn’t help but wince and look away for a moment.

"I'm scared," He rasped between heaves.

"Shhh, just relax."

Sport's stomach began to settle and he ended up slumped against Robbie, breathing deeply through the remaining nausea.

It was a long night of Sportacus dry heaving. His stomach had gotten to a point where it was trying to bring up stuff it didn’t contain, and it made Sportacus miserable. Robbie did his best to keep him comfortable, but there was only so much he could do when Sport's body was actively turned against him.

Finally, however, Robbie got up to clean the bin and returned to find the hero fast asleep.

He decided that it was about time to get some sleep himself.

\-----

When he woke, Robbie was staring straight at two bright blue eyes, slightly obscured by a couple of stray pieces of hair.

"You're awake!"

Robbie rubbed his eyes with a yawn, gently nudging the elf off of his chest so he could sit up. "Were you watching me sleep?"

"Only for a little bit. I couldn’t sleep anymore."

He was thankful to see how much better Sportacus looked and Robbie hoped that the worst of it had passed.

"Are you hungry?" He asked as he got out of the bed. He went for the stuff he had brought the night before which had all but been abandoned when he knew Sportacus wouldn’t be able to stomach anything.

"I…" Sportacus thought about it, "I'm not sure. I just really don't want to throw up again."

Robbie grabbed a packet of crackers from his pile of stuff and put a stack of them in Sport's hand. The elf raised an eyebrow at them and looked up.

"These have absolutely no nutritional value," He stated.

"Maybe not, but they'll make your stomach feel better. Stomach Flu 101: start off with food you know will stay down and work your way up from there."

"That sounds awful," Sportacus said, screwing his face up like a five year-old.

"Just eat the crackers, Sportasick. They'll make you feel better. If those stay down, then you can risk some sportscandy." Although, if you asked Robbie, _anything_ was better on your stomach than that stuff.

Sportacus picked up the salty, starch-y snack and took a tentative bite. He chewed and swallowed and his face seemed to relax a little before he took another bite. Success.

"How do you know all of this?" The hero asked between bites.

"Uh, experience?"

"You get sick a lot?" It was a genuine question but it ruffled a few of Robbie's feathers. It wasn’t _his_ fault that he had an awful immune system.

 …Alright, maybe it was.

"Well, not all of us have bodies made of steel and glacier water," Robbie muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Yes, I guess you could say that I get sick a lot! Just keep eating your crackers."

"I'm sorry that I never knew. I could have checked on you last Christmas, but I didn’t."

Robbie frowned. He didn’t mean to make Sportacus feel guilty about it. He just… it _would_ be nice to be taken care of, wouldn’t it? He shook his head at the thought.

He reached a point in the day where he considered it safe to leave Sportacus alone so he could go home, nap, and make sure his lair hadn't been overrun by raccoons while he was gone.

"Don't eat anything that doesn’t sound good. If the thought of something makes you nauseous, you shouldn’t eat it. And I probably don't need to tell you this, but drink a lot of water."

Sportacus just grinned like an idiot, obviously entertained by the lazy villain offering health tips. "Okay, Robbie."

And Robbie was off to his lair to nap forever. Taking care of a pukey elf was just as _fun_ as it sounded.

He walked right past his chair and went for his bedroom.

Robbie wasn’t surprised to find that he had slept the rest of the day away, or that he woke early the next morning to an ominous ache in his stomach. He _was_ surprised, however, by the hero in his lair.

"Robbie, you're awake!"

Yes, but he really didn’t want to be.

"How do you feel?"

Robbie decided to be honest. "Awful." He knew how these stomach bugs went and what he had to look forward to. Ugh. Wonderful.

Sportacus frowned sympathetically. "I thought so. But I'm going to be here for you this time, okay?"

"I've got to warn you, Sportaloon. I'm no fun to be around when I'm sick."

A soft smile crossed the hero's features as he sat on the edge of the bed. He brushed the back of his hand against Robbie's cheek to check for a fever, and then kissed his forehead.

"That's okay. Neither was I."


End file.
